The First Encounter
by FallenJustice
Summary: One shot. Glass Houses chapter re-write. Set when Claire first talks to Michael. But what if she talks to Shane instead? Please read and review!


Glass houses re-write

**Hey guys, so this is basically a one-shot of a re-write of when Claire first goes into the Glass House. I just wanted to say that this isn't necessarily what I **_**prefer, **_**I love the original, this is just an idea what popped into my head, and I thought I'd try it out.  
Hope you like it!  
(Disclaimer: All credit goes to Rachel Caine.)**

Claire took a deep breath and opened her bedroom door. Lights were on in the hall, warm and glowing gold; there was a muffled sound coming from downstairs. It sounded like gunshots. She'd only been here a few hours, and most of them were spent sleeping, but she already knew the absent whoops and grunts had to be coming from Shane, playing another one of his violent video games. According to the clock on the wall, it was only just past 10pm; _so, why was Shane home? _She padded barefoot down the corridor to the stairs, where she could see him perched on the edge of the leather couch, his elbows propped on his knees, the game controller in his hands. His hair was tousled in the way that made him look even hotter somehow, he wore jeans and his feet were bare. But what struck Claire the most was that he was shirtless. She could see the defined lines of his abs and shoulder muscles as they tensed beneath his skin while he played. He hadn't seemed to have noticed her yet, which was good because she had to blink a few times, realising she was staring. She began descending the stairs, one creaked under her foot, but he still didn't draw his attention away from his zombie-killing. It was only when she was about five steps from the bottom when he said something. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" He asked, not looking away from the screen.

"Shouldn't you be on a date?" She retorted, coming to stand an awkward couple of meters from the couch.

"Nice one, Jailbait." _Jailbait?_ Claire thought with a shock. No one had ever thought of her in that way before, she didn't really know what to say. "Dammit!" Shane exclaimed, throwing the controller down into his lap as a graphic zombie tore his character's throat out onscreen. He looked over to her, running his gaze up and down her. She was only wearing flimsy white cotton pyjama shorts and a blue plaid tank top, but she felt exposed under his warm brown gaze. He tipped his head in the direction of the empty couch space next to him. "You just gonna stand there?" Instead of replying, she walked over and lowered herself onto the couch, a good distance away from him. "Tell me about yourself."

"I…Um… What?"

He rolled his eyes. "You. Tell me about you. What kinda things do you like? Movies? TV shows? Books. You gotta like books, a nerd like you."

She didn't know whether to be offended by being called a nerd, but his tone didn't suggest it. "Uhh, I like book, yeah. Science mainly. It's pretty boring to everyone else. But I've watched the classic movies with my parents. I don't really get a chance to watch many movies really." She felt truly awkward being asked questions like that. _Normal_ questions. She wasn't into normal stuff. She was into science, and physics, and studying.

"Hmm…" He ran a hand through his hair, a reflexive gesture, which made it stick up at all sorts of odd angles. "Well, you really don't get out much do you?" When she shook her head he shrugged.

"Why are you back from your date so early, anyway?" Claire asked, wanting to steer the attention away from the subject of her geekyness.

"She didn't show." He said it as if it meant nothing. "No biggie."

"She stood you up? Ouch. Are you okay?"

He locked eyes with her intently. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I didn't _like_ her, not in that way. She just asked me to go bowling with her, so I said yeah. She was pretty, but there are prettier girls, even in this town." He paused to sigh slightly, never averting his gaze. "Thanks, though."

She smiled, leaning back against the couch, feeling a little more relaxed around him now. "No problem."

"Listen, Claire… About the room." He shifted on the couch, the leather creaking a little as he did so, to face her. Her eyes searched his face, trying to figure out what he was going to say. "Everyone here is… legal. It's- It's kind of a house rule. It could… cause some trouble. You staying here, I mean."

Her heart dropped.

She was finally beginning to feel safe. Far away from the dorms. Away from Monica. She knew already what he would say; that she needed to leave. She relocated her gaze to her hands, clasped in front of her, fiddling restlessly. She heard creaking leather again, then she suddenly felt a warm knee pressed against hers. Shane had slid next to her on the couch. He placed his index finger under her chin to lift it and turn it to face him. His brown gazed bored into hers. "Hey, I didn't mean to-… Claire. Tell me what happened. Why did you leave the dorms? Who did this to you?"

She took a deep shaky breath. "Monica." She whispered. Shane tensed next to her, but he didn't move his finger from her face. "It was Monica and her friends. They shoved me down the stairs… I think they wanted to… kill me." Claire hadn't realised that she'd started crying until Shane used his other hand to gently wipe away the tears that had spilled down her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. He was especially careful not to hurt her black eye, but as he wiped her cheek, she flinched and sucked air sharply through her teeth.

"Sorry." Shane said gently, drawing both his hands back. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Claire smiled and shook her head gently, which made him visibly relax. "Michael's not going to be happy, but I can't let him turf you out just cause you're- What? Fifteen?"

"Sixteen, nearly seventeen." She corrected.

He nodded. "I'm not letting you go back to the dorms and get yourself killed."

Claire was surprised. She hadn't expected him to be so… nice about it. "Thanks…" She said quietly.

Shane just smiled, a little lopsided, which Claire found oddly cute. "Wanna watch a movie or something?"

She spread her hands and shrugged. "Sure, you pick."

He slid, not so gracefully off the couch and reached towards a leaning stack of DVDs underneath the TV. He ran his finger thoughtfully over the titles before selecting Die Hard and putting it in the player. He pressed play before returning to the couch, sitting next to her, closer than he had been before. Their sides touched completely, the bare skin of his arms, touching hers. She could feel the heat radiating off him, which made her shiver a little, kind of excitedly. She'd never been this close to any boy, let alone one that was as hot as Shane. "You cold?" He asked, evidently noticing her shiver. He didn't wait for her to reply; instead he leaned to the side, picking up a discarded navy blue zip-up hoodie. She guessed it was his because she could just about see the hem of his grey t-shirt that he had been wearing before, lying on the floor next to the couch. He straightened out the jacket and put it around her shoulders, holding it so she could slide her arms in. It was nice to have something cover her shoulders, even if she wasn't all that cold, and it smelled like him, so she wasn't about to turn it down. He leaned over and zipped it up. It was unsurprisingly too big for her, but she didn't care. As he withdrew, his eyes flicked up to meet hers, the movie had started, but right now all she could see were Shane's eyes. Their faces were inches apart, and at this close range, she could see the little amber flecks in his irises. His breath warmed her lips as he breathed a little heavily, it smelled of chili and coffee, but wasn't entirely unpleasant. Suddenly there was a loud explosion in the movie, which made her jump and flush red. Shane laughed, blushing a little himself, turning back to watch the movie, but not moving away from her side.

About halfway through the movie, Claire dozed off. Sometime later, she absently became aware of a pair of strong, warm arms lifting her gently from the couch and carrying her. She felt as though she were flying in her semi-conscious state.

**Thanks for reading, I know it's a little weird, but I was re-reading the first book, and I was thinking about alternatives, and this was one of them. Also, if you like The Morganville Vampires, you could check out my Facebook page: ** commongroundsmorganville **The link will be on my profile. It's pretty new, but I need some Morganville fans to go like it for me so I can do more things for you guys.  
Can I just also say that I appreciate it so much that you take the time to read my stories, it means a lot to me. ^_^ Go ahead and check out my other stories if you liked this one.  
Thank you! I LOVE YOU ALL xoxoxox**


End file.
